News

Finland is the country with the largest proportion of forest in Europe. Spruce, pine and birch are probably the three tree species that everyone immediately associates with Finland. But Finland is also the northern distribution margin for many other tree species such as oak, maple, ash, mountain ash and lime.

The genetic conservation of these species, which are rather rare in Finland, is realized in ex situ genetic conservation units, in which individuals from many stands can grow together and produce seeds. For a total of 9 tree species, Finland has now revised its current strategy to effectively conserve genetic diversity in the face of future challenges such as climate change, habitat fragmentation, and invasive pests.

In addition, the strategy gives an outlook on future multifunctional genetic conservation, so that previously static conservation units can take on other additional tasks such as providing seeds with increased genetic diversity for better adaptation to future climate. Furthermore, the new strategy identifies ex situ efforts that make it necessary to secure genetic resources also in static units such as seed- and cryobanks. This is the case, for example, with the European ash, which has already been exposed to ash dieback in Finland for two decades.

The strategy provides for the development of an action plan that pursues short-term (3-5 years) and long-term goals (10-15 years). Short-term goals relate primarily to species that are highly endangered in Finland, such as elm and ash, for which new units are to be created. In contrast, the strategy pursues long-term goals for oak, maple, lime, rowan, juniper and bird cherry. For the latter, a data-based approach is to be developed over the next few years, which will allow more efficient sampling and selection of populations for future conservation units.

The new strategy can be found on Luke’s webpage here.